A top Italian chef has come out against the rating systems used by travel guides to judge restaurants, including the stars used by Michelin Guide.
''We get judged based on personal preferences. This is a system which I no longer intend to accept. I do not want to be judged by guides using points or stars,'' Gualtiero Marchesi said at a press conference here on Tuesday.
''I have nothing against guides publishing reviews, but I refuse to be rated. I realise I run the risk of not being in any guides, but this is a risk which I can take at my age,'' Marchesi added.
Marchesi, 78, was the first Italian chief to be awarded the Michelin Guide's top three stars, in 1985. He is considered by many to be the pioneer of modern Italian cuisine.
Also present at the press conference was the Michelin Guide's director of communications, Giampaolo Galloni, who replied: ''We respect Gualtiero Marchesi's decision, but our job is to give ratings, it is what the public wants from us, not just simple reviews''.
''We will now try to find a way of dealing with this situation. But this is completely new for us because, I repeat, we began by giving point ratings, not just simple descriptions or information on places which people could find other ways,'' Galloni added.
Marchesi was born in 1930, the son of parents who ran the Albergo del Mercato restaurant and hotel in Milan.
After building up his reputation at his family's establishment and studying cuisine in Switzerland, Marchesi went to cook in France, working in restaurants in Paris, Dijon and Roanne.
He later returned to Milan and opened another hotel and restaurant with his parents which he ran until 1977.
Marchesi later opened his first restaurant in the city and earned his first Michelin start within a year.
He picked up his second star the following year but it then took him four years before he earned Michelin's maximum three stars.
In 1993 he opened a new restaurant in Franciacorta, an area between Milan and Brescia where he further developed his cuisine, a mix between traditional and modern, the Ristorante di Erbusco.
Five years later he opened a restaurant under his own name in Milan which also became a cooking academy.
In 2001 he opened a restaurant in Paris and the same year he took over Rome's oldest public eating establishment, the Osteria dell'Orso, which has been operating since the 1400s.
